The Life of King Edward VII
overcome, and on the 16th of March, 1875, the Marquess of Salisbury,
Secretary of State for India, announced that the visit would take place,
and a little later the _Times_ stated that Sir Bartle Frere would
accompany His Royal Highness. The former was widely known in India
through administrative duties admirably performed in Bombay and the
North-West Provinces. The Duke of Sutherland, a much respected nobleman,
was selected as one of the suite, together with Lord Suffield, head of
the Prince's Household; Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Ellis, Equerry to the
Prince, and who had served in India; Major-General (Sir) D. M. Probyn,
V.C., who arranged the details regarding horses, transport and sporting;
Mr. Knollys, who has since been so well known as Sir Francis Knollys,
the Prince's Private Secretary; Lord Alfred Paget, an old man and most
attached friend to the Prince; the Rev. Canon Duckworth, who went as
Chaplain; and Dr. Fayrer, who attended in the capacity of guardian to
the Prince's health, and afterwards became a well known physician and
Sir Joseph Fayrer, Bart., F.R.S., etc.
The Earl of Aylesford, Lord Carington and Colonel Owen Williams were
invited, as personal friends of the Prince of Wales, to join the party,
while Lieutenant the Lord Charles Beresford, M.P., who had accompanied
the Duke of Edinburgh on his preceding hasty visit, also lent his
experience and unflagging gayety to the suite, and was aided by
Lieutenant Augustus Fitz-George of the Rifle Brigade. Mr. Sydney Hall
was the official artist of the tour; Mr. Albert Grey (afterwards Earl
Grey) was Private Secretary to Sir Bartle Frere; and the present Sir
William Howard Russell was a special correspondent with the nominal
duties of Honorary Private Secretary to the Prince. When Parliament met
various questions were asked as to whether the expenses of the tour were
to be charged to the British or Indian Governments; whether the Prince
would represent the Queen; whether he would supersede the
Governor-General for the time being, etc. On July 8th Mr. Disraeli made
a full statement for the first time in connection with the subject. He
alluded to the previous travels of the Prince of Wales and expressed the
opinion that they were the best form of education for a Royal personage.
But the rules and regulations and etiquette which sufficed for the
Prince in Canada and other countries would not do in India. One
important difference was the probably costly character of the ceremonial
presents which would have to be exchanged between the visitor and his
hosts amongst the native Princes. Money would have to be granted for
this, and the sum of L30,000 had been casually estimated for the
purpose. The estimate of the Admiralty for the expenses of the voyage
and corresponding movements of the fleet was L52,000. He would ask for a
vote of L60,000. The Prince would go as the Heir Apparent to the Crown
and be the formal guest of the Viceroy from the time of setting foot
upon Indian soil. The expenses of the tour were to be charged to the
Indian Budget. This statement created some criticism, while the very
small amount proposed for expenditure caused still more comment. As a
matter of fact, the Prince did not exceed, in the end, the comparatively
small amount voted.
THE JOURNEY COMMENCED
On Sunday, October 10th, a farewell sermon was preached at Westminster
Abbey by Dean Stanley, who expressed the hope that the visit might leave
behind it "on one side the remembrance of graceful acts, kind words,
English nobleness, Christian principles, and on the other awaken in all
concerned the sense of graver duties, wider sympathies, loftier
purposes." On the following day the Prince left London amid marked
popular demonstrations of respect and regard, and with every evidence of
a deep public interest shown by the press of the country. At Dover
thousands of people cheered the Prince farewell. He took the boat for
Calais, accompanied by the Princess, who, however, did not land, but
returned home next morning. At Paris he was accidentally met by
President MacMahon, who was leaving on the train for another place, and
welcomed to France; officially he was received by Lord Lyons, the
British Ambassador. On the following day His Royal Highness lunched with
Marshal MacMahon at the Elysee. This visit and the ensuing journey
through Turin, Bologna and Ancona to Brindisi was carried out in a
private and non-official capacity. Nevertheless, at every station there
were officials, guards of honour and crowds of people to see the special
go through and to do honour to the traveller. The bulk of the Royal
suite followed the Prince a little later, and on October 16th the whole
party met at Brindisi and the voyage proper commenced.
WELCOMED BY THE KING OF THE GREEKS
Later in the same day H. M. S. _Serapis_, under the command of Captain
the Hon. H. Carr-Glyn, accompanied by the Royal yacht _Osborne_, left
Brindisi, and two days later the Prince was being welcomed in Athens by
the King of the Hellenes--Otto I--and by a picturesque Court clad in the
attractive costumes of the nation. Visits to the Acropolis and to the
country house of the King were followed by a State banquet at the
Palace, which gathered together all that was eminent in modern Grecian
life, glittering with laces, orders and decorations, and including some
young men who have since become famous--Tricoupi, Delyannis,
Commoundourus and Zaimes. Illuminations of the city ensued, and in the
morning, after a Royal reception, the Prince left Athens through crowds
of people, who seemed a little more demonstrative than had been the case
at first. On October 20th the Piraeus was left behind after a farewell
visit from the King and at dawn the next day Crete was in sight. The
ship steered steadily ahead and three days later was welcomed at Port
Said by Egyptian frigates on sea and Egyptian infantry on shore.
There was no cheering from the people but much curiosity. A formal
welcome was offered for the Khedive by Princes Tewfik, Hussein and
Hassan, who were accompanied on their visit to the _Serapis_ by the
well-known statesman Nubar Pasha, and other officers of the Court. The
Prince then transferred himself to a smaller vessel--the _Osborne_--and
with a Royal Standard floating over the ship for the first time since
the Empress Eugenie had opened the Suez Canal, he traversed that famous
waterway. At Ismaila, the Prince and his suite landed and took a special
train to Cairo, where His Royal Highness was welcomed by the Khedive in
person, with the towering form of the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia
standing behind, and a brilliantly uniformed Court around him. To the
Prince of Wales the Gezireh Palace was given as his temporary residence.
The succeeding day was occupied with ceremonials of various kinds, a
banquet being given by the Khedive at the Abdeen Palace in the evening,
when the Prince passed to and fro in a lane of light made by myriad
many-coloured lamps.
On October 25th, the Prince of Wales invested Prince Tewfik--afterwards
Khedive of Egypt--with the Order of the Star of India amidst all
possible state. In a letter he told His Highness that the honour was
conferred to mark British appreciation of the Khedive's friendship to
England, and his good work in promoting the safety of British
communication with India. The next day saw the Royal departure from
Cairo after a formal visit from the Khedive, the Princes his sons, and
his Ministers, who were again at the station to see him off a little
later. Suez was reached in the evening and, amid elaborate preparations
from the Pasha of that place, crowds of people and illuminated
men-of-war in the roadstead, the Prince and his party boarded the
_Serapis_ and, accompanied by the _Osborne_, proceeded on the voyage to
Aden. Perim, which has been described as "a gigantic blistered clinker,"
was reached and passed on October 31st, and from the ship the Prince got
his first view of Her Majesty's Indian troops. It is to be hoped that
the cheering Bombay Infantry drawn up on that vitrified surface, got a
fair view of the Prince in return. On the following day the
volcanic-like Island of Aden was reached, and its fortifications gazed
upon with interest. As the flag flew from the mast-head of the _Serapis_
to announce its arrival the ships and crags rang with the roar of
cannon. The Prince landed, clad in uniform of a somewhat mixed
character, with Field Marshal's insignia, and accompanied by his suite.
Upon, or around, the platform and triumphal arch erected at the
landing-place, was every variety of picturesque oriental costume with a
background of mountain and blistered rock and white, painted houses.
Chiefs from the mainland in gorgeous array, the King's Own Borderer's
Regiment, all the ladies of the island in European or Asiatic costume,
fierce-looking Arabs, meek-looking Hindoos, sleek Parsees, people from
all the regions between the Persian Gulf, Zanzibar and Arabia, were
there to welcome him.
THE PRINCE RECEIVES AN ADDRESS
A formal address was presented to His Royal Highness by the Resident--a
Parsee--and then followed a drive through decorated streets with
numerous arches and curious mottoes to the Residency. A Levee was held
here and later in the day the ship was again boarded and steamed away
from the Indian Gibraltar as it lay bathed in lines of light along all
its town and batteries.
Bombay was reached on November 8th, after a voyage which was upon the
whole pleasant--certainly as far as surroundings and comforts could
make it. For a few hours official visitors streamed on board, and then
in the afternoon Lord Northbrook, Viceroy of India, appeared on the
scene and was received with the honours due to his station. There had
been some idea abroad that difficulties might arise as to the respective
positions of the Heir Apparent and the Viceroy in State ceremonial, but
from the day of this first formal meeting there does not seem to have
been the slightest trouble upon the point. Each knew perfectly what
pertained to the position and rank of the other. Then came the Governor
of Bombay, Sir Philip Wodehouse, and with him the Commander-in-Chief of
the Presidency, Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Staveley, and the members
of the Council. Meanwhile the harbour was filled with ships and boats of
all kinds, flags were streaming everywhere, in the distance was a vast
triumphal arch spanning the waterway between two piers, and, as the
Royal and Vice-regal party stepped into the barge and started for the
landing-place, the cannon roared, bands played, guards saluted and crews
cheered.
As the Prince of Wales landed the scene was one of the most splendid
conceivable. Long lines of seats draped in scarlet cloth stood out under
the sides of the gigantic archway and upon them stood a multitude of
native notabilities--Chiefs, Sirdars and gentlemen, Parsees, Hindoos,
Mahrattas and Mohammedans--a crowd glittering in gems and bright in all
the brilliant hues of Oriental garb. Amongst them also were the officers
of the Government and Municipality, leading citizens and dignitaries,
and all the ladies who could be found within a radius of a hundred
miles. Flowers and shrubs and banners and flags were everywhere. An
address expressive of loyalty and pride in the British Throne was
presented from the Municipality and duly answered, and then the Prince,
with Lord Northbrook at his side, walked along a carpeted avenue,
speaking to various Princes and Chiefs as they were presented--the
first being Sir Salar Jung, the Prime Minister and representative and
famous statesman of Hyderabad. At the end of the avenue, where carriages
were taken for the procession of seven miles through the teeming streets
of the city, a band of Parsee girls in white were waiting to strew